How can I reset my BIOS using Ubuntu?

Question

I need to reset the BIOS. I took a look into my laptop, but the CMOS battery and the jumper are covered with a lot of stuff and I don't feel like taking all of that out. So is there a way of resetting the BIOS using Ubuntu?

Solution

modprobe nvram
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nvram

Then reboot.

This resets the CMOS memory on most systems.

Comments

[David Foerster]

Most PC systems (so almost all desktop and server computers) don't have /dev/nvram. I've only really seen that on embedded systems. -1

[nod]

This is the correct answer, at least on Ubuntu 16+. You just need to modprobe nvram. I locked myself out of IPMI remote console by disabling a buggy USB chipset in BIOS earlier and this resolved it.

[Zibri]

/dev/nvram skips anyway the first 14 bytes of the real CMOS memory which contains the RTC (real time clock). To write also those 14 bytes you need a small C program, but usually is not needed.

[Badis Merabet]

Does this reset bios administrator password ? I am struggling with it now :/